From  the  Illinois  Constitution  of  1818,  Art.  VIII,  sections  9 and 
13  (repeated  in  the  Constitutions  of  1848  and  1870). 

“ That  in  all  criminal  prosecutions  the^  accused  hath  a right  to  a 
speedy  public  trial.” 

“That  all  persons  shall  be  bailable  by  sufficient  sureties  unless  for 
capital  offenses  where  the  proof  is  evident  or  the  presumption  great/ 1 


“All  penalties  shall  be  proportioned  to  the  nature  of  the  offense, 
the  true  design  of  all  punishments  being  to  reform,  not  to  exterminate 
mankind.”  (Illinois  Constitution,  1818,  Art.  VIII.) 


“Every  person  ought  to  find  a certain  remedy  in  the  laws  for  all 
injuries  and  wrongs  which  he  may  receive  in  his  person,  property  or 
reputation;  he  ought  to  obtain,  by  law,  right  and  justice  freely  without 
being  obliged  to  purchase  it,  completely  and  without  demand,  promptly 
and  without  delay.  ” (Art.  II,  Bill  of  Rights,  1870.  Also  in  Consti- 
tution of  1848,  Art.  XIII,  Declaration  of  Rights,  and  in  Constitution 
of  1818,  Art.  VIII.) 


“All  persons  shall  be  bailable  before  conviction  except  for  capital 
offenses  where  the  proof  is  evident  or  the  presumption  great.  ” (Illinois 
Revised  Statutes,  chap.  38,  p.  294.) 


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THE  REAL  JAIL  PROBLEM 


PUBLIC  opinion  in  Chicago  was  suddenly  focused  on  the  jail  prob- 
lem during  the  first  week  of  June,  because  it  was  necessary  for  the 
men  and  women  voters  of  Cook  County  to  make  up  their  minds 
whether  to  vote  for  or  against  the  $2,500,000  bond-issue  proposed  for  the 
erection  of  a new  county  jail.  The  bond-issue  was  defeated  because  it 
was  believed  that  the  plans  for  the  new  jail  fell  short  of  modern  Standards. 
That  a new  jail  is  needed  cannot  be  questioned,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
some  measures  will  shortly  be  taken  toward  the  preparation  of  new  and 
adequate  plans  which  will  make  possible  not  only  the  submission  of  an- 
other jail  bond-issue  but  an  affirmative  vote  upon  it.  It  is  important, 
however,  at  this  time  to  note  that  Chicago’s  real  jail  problem  is  a much 
larger  problem  than  one  of  sanitation  or  overcrowding  and  is  much  too 
complicated  to  be  solved  merely  by  a bond-issue  and' the  erection  of  a 
new  jail. 

The  real  problem,  is,  in  fact,  not  so  much  a question  of  the  jail 
building  as  of  the  prisoners.  It  is  not  how  a new  jail  should  be  built 
to  care  best  for  the  more  than  eight  thousand  men  and  boys  who  each 
year  are  locked  up  in  its  steel  cages  for  longer  or  shorter  periods  of  time, 
but  how  many  of  the  “eight  thousand”  could  and  should  be  spared  the 
suffering  and  the  humiliation  of  serving  a term  of  imprisonment  there. 
That  is,  before  building  a new  penal  institution  large  enough  to  hold 
eight  or  nine  thousand  tenants  during  the  year,  and  eight  hundred 
persons  on  any  one  day,  some  serious  questions  should  be  raised  as 
to  how  many  of  the  thousands  of  persons  who  during  the  year  arfi' crowded 
into  this  wretched  place  are  being  needlessly  held  in  custody  and  ought 
never  to  have  been  sent  to  jail  at  all. 


The  Prisoners  in  the  Jail:  Who  Are  the  Eight  Thousand? 

At  present  there  are  three  classes  of  persons  confined  in  the  county 
jail  of  Cook  County: 

1.  Those  who  are  merely  waiting  to  be  tried  and  who,  until  they 
have  been  tried  and  found  guilty,  are  presumed  under  the  law  to  be 
innocent  persons.  The  report  of  the  Chicago  Crime  Committee 


1 


showed  that  about  90  per  cent  of  all  the  “ prisoners”  sent  to  the  jail 
during  a year  are  sent  there,  not  under  sentence,  but  to  be  held  awaiting 
trial. 

2.  Those  who  have  been  tried  and  found  guilty  and  sentenced 
to  a term  of  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail.  The  Crime  Committee’s 
report  showed  that  only  about  5 per  cent  of  the  “prisoners”  are  persons 
who  have  been  tried,  found  guilty  and  given  a jail  sentence. 

3.  The  remaining  5 per  cent  of  the  jail  population  is  a rather 
miscellaneous  group  including  persons  held  after  conviction  pending 
transfer  to  some  other  penal  institution,  those  held  as  witnesses,  or  on 
order  of  the  United  States  Courts,  on  writs  of  ne  exeat , etc. 


The  Victims  of  the  “Law’s  Delays.” 

It  came  as  a severe  shock  to  many  of  the  people  in  Chicago  who 
studied  the  report  of  the  Crime  Committee  to  find  that  most  of  the 
8,600  persons  in  the  county  jail  during  the  year  were  not  there  because 
they  were  guilty  of  any  crime  but  because  they  could  not  provide  bail 
during  the  period  while  the  .law  was  taking  its  course,  too  frequently 
a slow  and  uncertain  course,  in  giving  them  a trial. 

The  vast  majority  of  persons  in  Chicago  never  have  any  occasion 
to  enter  the  county  jail.  They  think  vaguely,  perhaps  regretfully,  or 
even  sorrowfully,  of  the  thousands  of  persons  who  are  locked  up  there 
in  steel  cages,  but  they  take  it  more  or  less  for  granted  that  these  men 
and  boys  are  “jail-birds,”  persons  guilty  of  crimes,  persons  who  are 
so  wicked  or  so  vicious  that  society  can  be  safe  only  by  shutting  them 
up  in  this  way  away  from  the  light.  As  a matter  of  fact  when  the  records 
are  examined,  it  appears  that  many  of  these  persons  are  there  merely 
because  the  “law’s  delays”  have  deprived  them  of  the  speedy  trial  to 
which  they  are  entitled  under  the  law. 


The  Jail  Problem,  a Problem  of  Poverty. 

It  is  important,  moreover,  to  note  that  it  is  only  the  poor  who  are 
subjected  to  this  harsh  treatment.  The  man  who  belongs  to  the  well- 
to-do  class  is  able  to  provide  the  necessary  bonds  and  to  secure  a release 
on  bail,  while  the  poor  man  must  await  his  trial  in  the  county  jail. 
But  it  is  important  that  we  should  remember  that  when  a man  is  sent 
to  jail  merely  because  he  is  too  poor  to  furnish  bail,  he  really  suffers 
imprisonment  not  for  any  crime  he  has  committed  but  for  his  poverty, 
which  is  no  crime. 


2 


The  law  of  Illinois  provides  that  any  person  awaiting  trial  may  be 
released  on  bail  “ except  in  capital  offenses  where  the  proof  is  evident  or 
the  presumption  great.”  There  were,  last  year,  only  219  persons 
arrested  on  the  charge  of  murder,  so  that  in  round  numbers  about  7,000 
“ prisoners”  could  have  been  released  on  bail  if  they  had  been  able  to 
furnish  bail. 

The  real  jail  problem  then  is  to  find  some  better  way  of  treating 
men  and  boys  who  are  too  poor  to  furnish  bail  than  locking  them  up  in 
tiers  of  steel  cages  for  periods  of  varying  length,  sometimes  for  weeks 
and  months.  With  the  question  of  a new  jail  before  us,  is  it  not  time 
to  ask  if  some  more  humane  method  of  dealing  with  these  persons 
cannot  be  devised? 


The  Costs  of  Imprisonment. 

It  is  difficult  for  comfortable  persons  who  have  no  occasion  ever  to 
enter  a vast  prison  house  like  our  county  jail  to  realize  what  a heavy 
penalty  imprisonment  is.  Here  are  gloomy  cell-houses,  tier  upon  tier 
of  them,  steel  cages  away  from  the  light  and  air,  all  looking  down  over 
gloomy  corridors  where  for  a few  hours  each  day,  the  prisoners  are 
allowed  to  “ exercise” — and  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  one  of  these 
corridors  serves  also  as  the  place  of  execution  for  the  prisoners  who  are 
hung.  It  is  difficult  to  picture  the  plight  of  the  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  men  and  boys  who  every  year  are  locked  up  in  these  wretched  cells  and 
then  are  tried  and  discharged.  They  have  suffered  a cruel  punishment  and 
have  not  been  found  guilty  ofiany  crime.  There  is  no  compensation  for 
such  suffering,  and  the  state  attempts  to  offer  none.  But  surely  it  is 
our  duty  to  ask  whether  some  mitigation  of  this  evil  is  not  possible. 
Statistics  cannot  show  the  moral  degradation  that  results  from  unjust 
imprisonment.  The  humiliation  that  a man  or  boy  feels  who  for  the 
first  time  becomes  an  inmate  of  the  jail,  goes  through  the  wretchedness 
of  throwing  up  his  hands  to  be  searched  and  hears  the  steel  doors  in 
corridor  after  corridor  shutting  behind  him,  or  the  bitterness  of  sitting 
idle,  waiting  days,  weeks,  or  even  months  to  be  given  a trial,  knowing 
that  he  has  lost  his  job,  that  his  wife  and  children,  or  his  mother  and 
father  are  suffering  perhaps  even  more  than  he  is. 

Now,  the  comment  on  all  this  may  be  that  the  man  or  the  boy  has 
deserved  to  suffer  because  he  has  done  wrong,  but  has  he?  He  is  only  an 
accused  person  and  the  accusation  may  be  unjust.  He  is  there  only 
waiting  for  a trial,  and  the  report  of  the  Crime  Committee  showed  that 
the  great  mass  of  these  “prisoners”  after  trial  are  not  sentenced  but  dis- 


3 


charged.  They  are  either  found  not  guilty  or  they  are  found  guilty  of 
an  offense  that  is  punishable,  not  by  imprisonment,  but  only  by  a small 
fine. 


Vast  Majority  of  County  Jail  Prisoners  Discharged  After  Trial. 

Let  us  look  again  at  the  report  of  the  Crime  Committee.  We  have 
already  explained  that  the  report  showed  that  only  5 per  cent  of 
the  8,600  persons  sent  to  jail  were  sentenced  prisoners  serving  terms. 
The  report  also  shows  that  out  of  all  these  prisoners  only  1,100  were 
found  guilty  of  offenses  which  were  serious  enough  to  be  given  any 
kind  of  sentence  of  imprisonment.  Of  these,  260  men  were  sent  to 
Joliet  Penitentiary,  78  boys  were  sent  to  Pontiac,  and  764  men  or  boys 
were  sent  out  to  the  House  of  Correction,  the  majority  of  this  last  group 
being  sentenced  not  because  their  offenses  deserved  imprisonment  but 
because  they  were  too  poor  to  pay  the  small  fines  which  the  Court 
imposed.  Reduced  to  figures,  then,  our  problem  may  be  stated  as 
follows:  About  8,600  persons  are  sent  to  the  county  jail  during  a year 
and  after  they  have  been  tried  only  about  1,600  are  found  guilty  and  given 
any  kind  of  prison  sentence,  including  all  of  those  who  were  sentenced 
merely  for  the  non-payment  of  fines.  What  of  the  others,  nearly  seven 
thousand,  who  have  become  “ jail-birds”  and  suffered  the  penalty  of 
imprisonment  because  they  were  too  poor  to  provide  bonds?  If  you  had 
a son,  or  a husband,  or  a brother  among  the  seven  thousand,  and  everyone 
there  is  somebody’s  son  or  husband  or  brother,  would  you  not  feel  that 
one  of  the  most  important  things  in  the  world  would  be  to  save  that  man 
or  boy  from  the  humiliation  and  the  moral  degradation  of  becoming  a 
“ jail-bird”  before  he  had  been  tried  and  found  guilty. 


The  Length  of  the  Law’s  Delays. 

It  is  important  to  note  too  that  the  Crime  Committee  collected 
data  regarding  the  length  of  time  these  unfortunate  men  and  boys 
were  held  in  jail  awaiting  trial.  The  report  shows  (p.  74)  that  while 
the  majority  of  them,  5,948,  were  there  for  less  than  one  month,  and  most 
of  them  for  less  than  one  week,  nevertheless  1,660  of  them  were  kept 
in  jail  for  periods  varying  from  four  weeks  to  fifty-four  weeks.  There 
was  not  sufficient  evidence  against  some  of  these  men  to  secure  an 
indictment  by  the  Grand  Jury,  and  it  appears  that  251  of  the  men  against 
whom  “no  bills”  were  returned  were  held  in  jail  for  periods  ranging  from 
two  to  sixteen  weeks,  which  means  of  course  that  a terrible  punishment 
was  inflicted  upon  people  against  whom  there  was  not  sufficient  evidence 


4 


to  secure  an  indictment.  The  longest  periods  of  imprisonment  were,  of 
course,  endured  by  the  men  who  had  been  indicted  and  were  held  for 
trial  after  indictment.  Of  the  1,860  indicted  men,  75  per  cent  were  held 
in  jail  for  periods  varying  from  four  weeks  to  one  year.  Can  there  be 
any  compensation  for  such  suffering?  It  may  be  argued  that  these  men 
deserved  imprisonment  since  their  indictment  showed  there  was  evidence 
enough  to  hold  them  for  trial,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  are 
supposed  to  be  innocent  until  they  have  been  tried  and  found  guilty  and 
that  if  they  had  been  able  to  furnish  bail  few  if  any  of  them  could 
under  the  law  have  been  sent  to  jail.  Moreover,  it  has  been  shown 
that  a very  small  percentage  of  those  who  come  to  trial  are  found 
guilty.  (See  Report  of  Crime  Committee,  pages  24-32.) 


What  of  the  Future? 


To  those  who  understand  the  situation  it  seems  intolerable  that  so 
many  poor  people  should  continue  year  after  year  to  suffer  in  this  way. 
The  building  of  a new  jail  would  not  go  far  toward  meeting  the  real 
problem.  The  danger  to  the  health  of  the  persons  imprisoned  would 
not  be  so  great,  but  the  mental  and  moral  degradation  of  the  enforced 
idleness  of  cell-life  would  not  be  reduced  and  the  crime  of  shutting  thous- 
ands of  men  up  in  cages  because  they  are  too  poor  to  provide  bail  would 
still  go  on. 

It  should  again  be  emphasized  that  it  is  beside  the  point  to  argue 
that  these  men  have  “done  wrong”  or  they  would  not  have  been  arrested 
and  held  for  trial.  The  real  point  is  that  other  men  have  done  precisely 
the  same  things  but  because  they  could  furnish  bail — because  they  were 
rich  and  not  poor — the  offense  was  not  considered  serious  enough  to 
justify  detention  in  a jail  before  trial. 

The  only  purpose  of  imprisonment  pending  trial  is  to  ensure  the 
presence  of  the  accused  person  on  the  day  of  the  trial.  Bail,  i.e.,  usually 
a money  bond,  is  supposed  to  furnish  such  security  for  the  rich  man, 
but  for  the  poor  man  no  substitute  has  been  devised.  But  many  if 
not  most  of  these  men  and  boys  have  homes  and  families,  and  they 
are  not  more  likely  to  disappear  and  break  all  of  their  home  and  family  ties 
than  the  rich  men  are  to  jump  their  money  bond.  They  do  not  wish  to 
“skip  out”  and  to  leave  their  homes,  and  in  most  cases  could,  if  released 
on  their  own  bonds,  be  expected  to  appear  for  trial  on  the  appointed  day. 


5 


Probation  Instead  of  Jail. 


But  greater  security  than  a man’s  own  recognizance  will  and  prob- 
ably should  be  required.  An  investigation  will  be  necessary  in  the 
first  instance  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  man  can  be  trusted  with 
his  freedom  and,  in  case  the  trial  is  long  delayed,  some  kind  of  probation- 
ary oversight  during  the  intervening  period  may  be  necessary. 

The  only  substitute  for  the  present  system  lies  probably  in  an  ex- 
tension of  the  probation  system.  A probation  officer  could  be  ordered 
by  the  judge  to  make  inquiry  regarding  a man’s  home  and  habits.  Surely 
if  he  has  a home,  a family  and  a job,  and  in  many  cases  where  he  has  not 
all  these  desirable  objects,  Cook  County  could  trust  him  to  appear  for 
trial,  just  as  much  as  the  rich  man  who  has  given  a money  bond,  can 
be  trusted.  If  necessary  a probation  officer  could  be  assigned  to  keep 
in  communication  with  him.  The  cost  of  the  probation  service  would 
not  be  so  great  as  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  same  persons  in  jail1,  and 
the  manufacture  of  criminals,  the  hardening  of  the  accused  person 
under  imprisonment,  would  be  prevented. 


County  Jail  Not  a Fit  Place  for  Sentenced  Prisoners. 

Finally  when  plans  for  a new  jail  are  under  consideration,  the  ques- 
tion of  committing  prisoners  to  serve  sentences  of  imprisonment  there 
should  be  discussed.  Several  hundred  men  and  boys  are  sentenced 
each  year  to  serve  terms  varying  from  a few  days  to  more  than  six  months 
in  this  institution.  It  is,  however,  generally  recognized  by  those  in- 
terested in  prison  reform  that  the  same  jail  should  not  be  used  for 
persons  awaiting  trial  and  for  sentenced  prisoners.  A sentenced  prisoner 
should  be  in  an  institution  where  he  can  be  given  work  out  of  doors 
and  where  he  can  be  given  a chance  for  improvement.  A county  jail 
should  be  a place  of  detention  only  for  the  few  persons  who  cannot 
safely  be  released  pending  trial.  A county  jail  may  need  to  be  in  the 
city  near  the  criminal  court  building;  and  on  the  supposition  that 
prisoners  will  not  be  long  detained  waiting  to  be  tried,  no  provision  will 
be  made  for  work  in  the  open  air. 


(1)  Last  year  the  cost  of  the  county  jail,  according  to  the  Comp- 
troller’s report  was  $133,285.86  (p.  42),  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  the  County  appropriated  $64,698.40  for  the  salaries  of  jail  guards 
(total  jail  salaries  $87,681.37)  in  contrast  to  the  $9,585  appropriated  for 
the  salaries  of  probation  officers. 


6 


The  prisoners  serving  sentences  constitute  only  about  5 per  cent  of 
the  jail  population  during  a year  but  about  15  per  cent  of  the  persons 
confined  in  jail  on  any  one  day.  If  these  prisoners  could  be  removed 
either  to  the  House  of  Correction  or  to  a farm  colony  that  might  be 
provided  by  the  County,  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  imprisoned 
would  surely  be  more  adequately  met. 


A New  Jail  Necessary. 

It  should,  in  conclusion,  be  emphasized  that  this  pamphlet  is  not 
designed  to  present  any  arguments  against  building  a new  jail.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  believed  that  a new,  modern,  sanitary  jail  is  at  present 
one  of  Cook  County’s  bitter  needs.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  along 
with  plans  for  the  building  of  a new  jail  there  will  be  developed  some 
constructive  plans  for  reducing  very  substantially  the  jail  population. 
It  is  suggested  that  two  possible  methods  of  doing  this  would  be  (1)  to 
remove  all  the  persons  serving  sentences  to  a farm  colony,  or  temporarily, 
to  the  House  of  Correction;  (2)  to  devise  some  method  of  reducing  the 
number  of  persons  held  in  cells  pending  trial.  Although  further  in- 
vestigation is  necessary  to  determine  the  be^t  method  of  doing  this, 
it  is  believed  that  a system  of  releasing  poor  persons  awaiting  trial  and 
unable  to  furnish  bail,  under  probationary  supervision,  would  reduce 
the  jail  population  during  any  one  year  approximately  one  third  or  one 
half.  The  imprisonment  of  persons  who  have  not  yet  been  found 
guilty  is  a terrible  tragedy,  not  only  to  the  men  and  boys  who  must 
suffer  this  disgrace  but  to  their  families.  Surely  no  effort  should  be 
spared  to  save  any  of  them  from  this  calamity. 


Unnecessary  Arrests  and  Imprisonment. 

We  spend  in  Chicago  and  Cook  County  each  year  a very  large 
sum  of  money  for  the  upkeep  of  places  of  imprisonment,  the  police 
stations,  the  county  jail  and  the  House  of  Correction.  Last  April  we 
voted  $1,199,000  to  build  new  police  stations  and  in  June  we  were  asked 
to  vote  $2,500,000  for  a county  jail.  The  startling  fact  that  emerged 
from  the  report  of  the  Crime  Committee  was  that  these  large  expend- 
itures were  for  penal  institutions,  not  for  criminals  (our  criminals  go 
to  Joliet  and  Pontiac  and  Chester),  but  for  “ prisoners”  who  are  either 
found  guilty  of  some  minor  offenses  or  who  are  sentenced  only  to  the 
payment  of  a fine,  or  in  the  case  of  many  thousands  of  poor  persons, 
for  “ prisoners”  who  are  found  “not  guilty”  and  discharged. 


7 


I v \\  A 

t i A 

% 

I 

* The  situation  in  the  House  of  Correction  is  equally  misunderstood. 

During  any  one  year  about  15,000  persons  are  committed  to  this  insti- 
tution, but  the  vast  majority  of  them  are  there,  not  because  they  have 
been  found  guilty  of  offenses  deserving  a House  of  Correction  sentence, 
but  because  they  are  too  poor  to  pay  the  small  fines  assessed  against  them 
for  petty  offenses.  Thus  in  1913,  82  per  cent;  in  1912,  83  per  cent;  in 
1911  and  1910,  about  86  per  cent  of  all  the  prisoners  in  the  House  of 
Correction  had  been  committed  solely  for  the  non-payment  of  fines. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  that  ultimately  these  fines  are  paid 
not  only  by  the  men  and  their  families  in  suffering  and  privation  but  also 
by  the  taxpayers  of  Cook  County  who  support  the  institution. 

Surely  it  is  time  for  Cook  County  to  look  into  its  “ whitened  sepul- 
chers” and  to  undertake  not  only  to  build  new  sanitary  prisons,  but  to 
see  that  no  man  or  boy  shall  be  needlessly  arrested  and  be  sent  to  a 
cell  because  of  his  poverty.  No  one  believes  that  our  present  system 
is  preventing  crime.  Is  there  not  some  reason  to  believe  that  it  may 
be  one  of  the  causes  of  crime  in  Chicago?  Is  it  not  true  that  unjustifiable 
arrests  and  imprisonment  create  a contempt  for  the  law  that  in  turn 
breeds  lawlessness? 


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